Around the early eighteen hundreds the green crab was first seen on the Atlantic coast of North America. The European Green Crab is devastating for the ecosystem because it eats quahogs and Dungeness crabs. A marine educator prepares green crab dishes for sampling. It is also known by many different names in different parts of the world. Carcinus maenas. Hailing from the European coast and Northern Africa, European green crabs made their invasive debut off Cape Cod in the 1800s, likely through seafood shipments or ballast water. The reason it came was because when large ships go out to sea they carry ballast water to stay stable when out in open ocean. This now-abundant species is thought to have been introduced into U.S. waters from Europe. The potential range of green crabs includes southeast Alaska (Behrens Behrens-Yamada 2001, Carlton 2003). The green crab is a voracious crab and is often called the "angry crab." Natural dispersal can be an important means of spread in a region after European green crab have been moved my humans to a new part of the globe. If the conditions in their new home are suitable, the crabs could survive and even reproduce, establishing a new population and extending the species’ range farther along the coast. This pesky invader is bad news for the shellfish industry. Invasive green crabs: If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em. Its ability to crush mussels and eat them damages the fisheries in states next to the coast. The Green crab is is capable of learning and can improve prey-handling skills while foraging. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to simply as the Shore crab. By 2000, the green crab had dispersed as far north as Port Eliza on the northern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The carapace of the European Green crab has five short teeth along the rim behind each eye, and three undulations between the eyes. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name Green crab or European green crab. In turn they are a favorite food for many other intertidal inhabitants, including gulls, herons, and fish such as the tautog. The European green crab (Carcinus maenas) is a small shore crab whose native distribution is in the northeast Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, ranging along coasts from northern Africa toNorway and Iceland. Chinese mitten crab: This crab spends much of its lifecycle in fresh water environments; Canada has no native freshwater crab species; Although first discovered in Lake Erie in 1965, it has not been able to become established in the Great Lakes, probably due to its need for both fresh and saltwater environments when completing its lifecycle When ships dock they empty and change the ballast water. European green crab: Small but mighty. Green crabs are scavengers, feeding mostly on and around mussel beds. ‘The European green crab, Carcinus maenas, and the Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, are two introduced crab species that co-occur in the rocky intertidal zone of New England.’ ‘European green crabs in their natural habitat are smaller than those in invaded habitat.’ European Green Crab September 02, 2017. Home; Home / Crab / European Green Crab. Light debris or wrack, such as algae and trash, is often deposited in piles on the beach, as the tide drops. Its ability to crush mussels and eat them damages the fisheries in states next to the coast. Since 2016, however, green crabs have been detected in Padilla Bay, Sequim Bay and the Dungeness Spit, and in the San Juan Islands. European green crab were first discovered in Washington in 1998 in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. The European green crab is one of the world's most successful aquatic invaders (Darling et al 2008). The Green crab (Carcinus maenas) is known by different names around the world. The European Green Crab first came to America in 1988. Where did european green crabs originally come from? Since 2016, green crabs have been detected in Padilla Bay, Sequim … The European Green Crab also does not have much competition for food so it can become very abundant. Unanswered Questions. They also prey on small worms, mollusks, and crustaceans.